So here's us, on the raggedy edge.But there is no sunken treasure / Rumored to be / Wrapped inside my ribs / In a sea black with ink
I am so / Out of tune / With you— Jeff Tweedy, Sunken Treasure

August 10, 2013

Conversations With…

So the week that was has passed and it’s been an interesting one. In addition to the normal busy work week—which this week included some root level Unix system configuration that I haven’t done in a very long time—I’ve been getting ready for an end of summer busy music season. Next weekend is the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues festival which I’m covering. It looks like a good one, and I can’t wait for it.

At the end of the summer I’m heading to Ontario to visit my newborn (and first) niece for the first time. She was born at the end of April, and I’m looking forward to that visit more than anything you can imagine.

I’m also stopping by the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic while I’m there, and in the lead up to that I’m writing an article about the festival that’s now in its third year. This means that in the last week I’ve had conversations with Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris and Pegi Young who are all playing the festival.

So that’s been nice and a real treat. They’ve all be lovely folks, and my Friday—they day I chatted with Lanois—was an absolutely inspirational day. We chatted for a while, and it was great. He’s a fascinating, open, affable, and very self-assured man.

That day ended as well as it started with an early evening visit to the stage at the bottom of the hill I live on where some music was happening. I sat with my bike near the front of the stage to listen and a few minutes later a little visitor dropped by—she was about a year old and walked right over to me where I was sitting and crawled into my lap before reaching up and put her arms around my neck. It was just about the sweetest moment I’ve ever had, and it was the absolute perfect way to end a perfect day. Her mother came by after not too long and my visitor disappeared, but that minute of cuddling was just about the sweetest I’ve ever had.

I’m looking forward to meeting this little far away niece, and hopefully there’ll be some moments like that on that trip because I love them so much and I don’t get enough of them anymore in my life.